Assist Raiana with Cancer Treatment
BACKGROUND:
Hello! My name is Raiana Kelly, I am 27 years old, and I currently live in Georgia with my wonderful husband, Cameron Kelly. In May of 2017 I finished school at the University of Georgia with a degree in horticulture. Shortly after graduation, I noticed my health declining rapidly; it became harder for me to walk up stairs or hills, I was fatigued by mild exercise or activity, I was vomiting regularly, experienced shortness of breath, and more...
DIAGNOSIS:
In December 2017, after days of googling my seemingly unrelated symptoms, I finally asked my husband to take me to the emergency room for signs of a heart attack. Upon my arrival I was rushed to cardiology because my blood pressure was 220/180 and my heart rate was over 165 beats per minute. I should have been dead. After lots of tests and imaging, it was determined that my heart was fine and I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic paraganglioma in January 2018. 
Paraganglioma is a very rare neuro-endocrine cancer that may develop in various body parts and is characterized by symptoms such as heart palpitations, high blood pressure, increased levels of adrenaline and other hormones, sweating, nausea, anxiety and more. In short, it feels as though I am basically in fight-or-flight mode 24/7. We started the treatment process immediately.
TREATMENT:
I had an open surgery on my abdomen in February to remove what my doctors considered my "primary" tumor wedged between my left kidney and aorta. After my surgery I received external radiation treatment on a particularly troublesome tumor in my spine and a MIBG treatment (a chemical injection that targets the tumors) for the others. I currently have and am in treatment for 10 paraganglioma tumors along my spine, 2 in my skull, 1 in my shoulder, and 1 in my hip.
I am due for another round of scans in December 2018 to determine how well I'm responding to my previous treatments; I may need another treatment in January or February 2019.
My journey is long and on-going but you can help!
HELP:
I currently have approximately $14,000 and counting in medical bills after insurance that we are trying to tackle.
Your donation would go towards paying for my medical bills and cancer treatments so as to relieve some of the financial stress we are experiencing as a result of my unfortunate diagnosis.
If you are unable to make a donation, please share this campaign on my behalf.
Thank you,
Raiana and Cameron Kelly
